Books for all ages
BOOKS TO INSPIRE, CONNECT AND CREATE WONDER
Bee & nature story books
for children and adults
We've curated a list of books for learning and pleasure.
Sister Nature
Author: Jess De Boer
Kenyan beekeeper-turned-farmer Jess de Boer embarks upon a decade-long journey to find purpose and potential in the explosive world of regenerative agriculture.
From honey hunting in the last remaining pockets of rainforest in southern Ethiopia, to gardening in the depths of Kenya's largest slum, Jess takes you to the arid lands of Northern Kenya where a group of pioneering farmers have begun to connect the people with the dust beneath their feet.
This is a journey into restorative action. Confronting the challenges of our stagnant education systems, unsustainable food production techniques and the growing disconnect of our youth, de Boer merges fact and science with hard-won wisdom in this inspiring and accessible tale of proactivity and hope.
Creature Corridors
Author: Billie Rooney
Illustrator: Anke Noack
Discover how wildlife corridors can provide safe pathways for all sorts of creatures!
Creatures are on the move!
Wild animals often travel to find food, shelter or a place to breed. But this is becoming more difficult and dangerous, as construction and land clearing are affecting their habitat.
Creature Corridors follows kangaroos, koalas, birds, fish, crabs, cassowaries and lizards through wildlife corridors that exist across forests, rivers and seas. These corridors provide paths and spaces for them to move around safely. Discover how we can share our world with animals in this delightful and engaging story.
Reading level varies from child to child, but we recommend this book for ages 5 to 9.
The Beehive
Author: Megan Daley
Illustrator: Max Hamilton
An amazing look into the native stingless bee, the heroes of pollination, from celebrated teacher librarian and author Megan Daley and CBCA Award-winning illustrator Max Hamilton.
It's finally hive day! Willow has been waiting all year for groundskeeper Tom to split the school's native stingless beehive in two so she can take home her very own hive. Everything needs to be just right to help so that the bees forage and thrive in their new home.
The dual text results in a charming story alongside an abundance of fascinating facts about Australia's native bees.
Can we really save the bees? Yes we CAN!
Author: Katie Daynes
Illustrator: Roisin Hahessy
A positive, creative, colourful and REALLY USEFUL introduction to protecting pollinators and biodiversity.
The bees are in danger. They find a sparky bunch of kids to share their troubles with, and explain why there's much more at stake than just honey. With entire food webs threatening to unravel, the kids begin to brainstorm... and come up with a brilliant PLAN. This delightful book weaves important information about pollination, biodiversity, conservation and SHARING OUR PLANET into an entertaining and empowering narrative.
The Last Beekeeper
Author: Siya Turabi
This novel set in a climate-altered future features an endearing main character, Yoly Cicerón. Yoly has ambitions to escape farm life and become a doctor. But when the benefactors who promise to make her dreams come true reveal themselves as a threat to her family and their way of life, Yoly turns to her grandmother’s wisdom about the mythic bees. In a world where everyone is hyperconnected by technology, Yoly and her sister make it their mission to learn from the bees so they can save their family and community. Age 8+
Pollination
Author: Christopher Cheng
Illustrator: Danny Snell
A child’s day in the garden with their Gran and Pa leads to a wonderful exploration of pollination - how it happens and the importance it has for our environment. Meet the animals involved in pollination and the plants that depend on pollination to produce our fruit, vegetables and our clothes! Suitable for children aged 5 to 9.
Bee Detectives
Join these budding Bee Detectives as they explore the wonders of Australia's native bees.
Author: Vanessa Ryan-Rendall
Illustrator: Brenna Quinlan
When Olivia and Hamish see a smoky haze coming from their local park, they're ready to spring into action! But it's not a fire – it's a nest of Australian stingless bees that needs their help.
Tree Beings
We depend on trees for our survival, yet few of us understand just how fascinating these beings really are.
Author: Raymond Huber
Illustrator: Sandra Severgnini
With a foreword by the world-renowned anthropologist Jane Goodall, Tree Beings is an adventure through the secret world of trees. Challenging the perception that trees are just 'silent statues', it focuses on four big ideas:
- Trees give life to the planet.
- Trees can help save us from climate change.
- Trees are like beings.
- Trees need our help and protection.
The Forest in the Tree
How Fungi Shape the Earth
Authors: Ailsa Wild, Aviva Reed, Briony Barr, Gregory Crocetti
A little fungus meets a baby cacao tree and they learn to feed each other. They cooperate with a forest of plants and a metropolis of microbes in the soil. The fourth book in the Small Friends Books series, this science-adventure story explores the Earth-shaping partnerships between plants, fungi and bacteria.
What a Bee Knows
Author: Stephen Buchmann
Although their brains are incredibly small - just one million neurons compared to humans' 100 billion - bees have remarkable abilities to navigate, learn, communicate, and remember. In What a Bee Knows, entomologist Stephen Buchmann explores a bee's way of seeing the world. We travel into the field and to the laboratories of noted bee biologists who have spent their careers digging into the questions most of us never thought to ask (for example: Do bees dream? And if so, why?).
The History of Bees
Author: Maja Lunde
The History of Bees weaves three stories about the past, present, and future of beekeeping. In 1852 a beekeeper innovates a new way to keep bees; In 2007 a contemporary beekeeper wrestles with threats to our pollinators; and in 2098, in a world without bees, a woman employed as a hand pollinator must uncover what happened to her son. This theme of bees and beekeeping binds the three timelines together, as does the author’s focus on the human relationships that shape our lives.
The Murmur of the Bees
Author: Sofia Segovia
From a beguiling voice in Mexican fiction, The Murmur of Bees is about a mysterious child with the power to change a family's history in a country on the verge of revolution and the 1918 influenza outbreak. When a disfigured, abandoned child, Simonopio, is found covered in a blanket of bees, locals consider him a bad omen. His adoptive parents, however, see beyond what their neighbours fear in the mysterious child. Simonopio, who is constantly followed by his swarm of guardian bees, can see the future—the good and the terrifying.
